Hawaii’s Clarissa Chun of the USA wrestling program finds herself in the middle of the Olympic Games firestorm, a mega-event that’s supposed to galvanize not polarize.
The Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to begin July 23, and yet the world is divided on whether the event should take place in a country that’s in a state of emergency because of the pandemic.
Chun, Hawaii’s only Olympic medalist in wrestling and now the USA wrestling assistant national team coach, says the only thing Team USA can do is carry on in preparation for these beleaguered Games.
“We’re training like it is happening,” said Chun in a recent telephone interview from Atlanta before the team left for the Pan Am Games in Guatemala City. “In our minds, it’s happening. We cannot control what we cannot control.”
So far, the opinions for holding the Games have been divided.
An Associated Press report said a physician representing a Japanese medical body warned that holding the postponed Tokyo Olympics in two months could lead to the spread of variants of the coronavirus.
One of Japan’s largest newspapers, the Asahi Shimbun, with a circulation of 5.16 million, called for the cancellation of the games.
A recent poll also showed that around 80% of Japanese citizens oppose hosting the games this year.
Furthermore, Tokyo, Osaka and other regions of the country are under a state of emergency until June 20.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s two top officials expressed support for holding the event despite the growing opposition.
Organizers and the International Olympic Committee, citing the World Health Organization, say the games can be held safely with 15,000 athletes, officials and media entering the country.
“The dates we know that we’re competing, August 1st to the 7th, everything we’re going is preparing to be at their best those dates. If anything happens, we’re going to adjust as needed.”
Team USA competed in the Senior Pan American Championships in Guatemala last weekend in its last competition before heading to the Tokyo Olympics.
The women qualified all six weight classes in the freestyle competition — they actually qualified the last four weights in March 2020 just before the shutdown — while the USA men qualified in five of the six weight classes in freestyle (four of six in Greco-Roman).
“Overall, our athletes did a really good job, training through the shutdown and using that extra year to get better,” Chun said. “For some, they had some time to heal some minor injuries.”
Chun’s role as an assistant still includes wrestling.
“I wrestle, still, get on the mat, anywhere from the 50 kilo (110 pounds) to our 62 kilo (136.4) weight class,” said Chun, who won a bronze medal at 48 kg (105.6 pounds) in the 2012 London Olympics.
“Yeah, I physically train and get beat up by them. … We have a really good team. Really, really good team.”
This Olympic experience has been totally opposite for Chun as a coach from when she was a wrestler.
The former Roosevelt High two-time state wrestling champion and a former swimmer experienced the thrill of competing in a fan-filled Olympics with her family in the stands in 2008 and then winning a bronze four years later.
“Oh my gosh, that was awesome,” Chun said. “Because in 2008 I walked away, not with a medal, but more my, like, family got to travel, like they don’t travel internationally, they’re not the traveling type, but it got them to be able to travel and have those experiences.
“Being part of the Olympics is such an amazing experience, to be able to represent your country and being alongside many other elite athletes in their respective sports representing their respective countries. I think the Olympics is an amazing event, and to be able to experience it in a non-COVID environment … It’s awesome.”
Now, however, she’s experiencing the anguish of being an assistant on a team whose dreams were put on hold once, but hopefully not twice.
“Sad thing, COVID is still around, and things are going to be different,” she said, referring to overseas fans not being allowed to attend. “A big event like the Olympics, it’s not gonna feel the same.”
But Chun said the wrestlers are “grateful for the opportunity to compete as an Olympian, compete to be an Olympic gold champion, to represent the USA, their families. So I think the gratitude in the attitude is positive.”
So what would her reaction be if the games are postponed or canceled?
“I would feel sick for the athletes,” Chun said. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen. … That’s a lot of things that we do in life, to just be resilient. Not everything is going to go as planned.”
Clarissa Chun
>> Position: USA wrestling assistant national coach
>> Height: 4 feet 11
>> Weight: 106 pounds
>> High school: Roosevelt 1999
>> College: Missouri Valley College and University of Colorado- Colorado Springs
>> Years on Team USA: 15 (2000-07, 2008-13, 2014-17)
Career highlights
>> 2012 Olympic bronze medalist
>> 2008 World Champion
>> Fifth in 2008 Olympic Games
>> Five-time U.S. World Team member
>> Four-time U.S. Open champion (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012)
>> Four-time Pan American champion
>> 2012 Pan American Olympic Qualifier champion
>> Two-time girls state high school wrestling champion; also competed in swimming and bowling in high school
Sources: teamusa.org; Star-Advertiser
